Operation Restore Hope

Operation Restore Hope (9 December 1992-4 May 1993) was a US-led United Nations initiative to create a protected environment for conducting humanitarian operations in the southern half of Somalia during the Somali Civil War. After the killing of several Pakistani peacekeepers, the UN Security Council authorized its Unified Task Force (UNITAF) mission to use all necessary measures to guarantee the delivery of humanitarian aid.

In April 1992, the United Nations launched UNOSOM I, an effort to provide, facilitate, and secure humanitarian relief in Somalia, but the intransigence of local faction leaders in Somalia led to the mission's failure. Over the final quarter of 1992, humanitarian conditions worsened as the militia factions continued to splinter, meaning that, even if an agreement was reached with one faction, the UN would still have to ship their aid through another faction's territory. Some elements went so far as to oppose the UNOSOM mission, shooting at soldiers, attacking aid ships, and looting and extorting aid agencies. By November 1992, the most powerful of the warlords, Mohamed Farrah Aidid, demanded the withdrawal of the UN peacekeepers and declared hostile intent against any further UN deployments. At this point, UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali decided that a large intervention force be sent to Somalia to prepare the way for a return to peacekeeping and post-conflict peace-building. On 3 December 1992, the UN Security Council unanimously supported this plan, and President of the United States George H.W. Bush decided that the USA would assume command of this coalition. Of the 37,000 personnel sent to Somalia, 25,000 were US military personnel.

The first US Marine Corps personnel landed on the beaches of Somalia on 9 December 1992 amid a media circus, conducting reconnaissance operations in the vicinity of the airport and harbor of Mogadishu. Early that day, the Marines launched an unopposed amphibious assault on Mogadishu, and US troops occupied the port and airfield to provide a foothold for additional incoming troops. Additional Marine forces secured the airport at Baidoa and the city of Bardera, while US and Belgian forces conducted an amphibious landing at the port city of Kismayo. Consequently, various Somali factions returned to the negotiating table to bring an end to the civil war, and the Addis Ababa Agreement was signed on 27 March 1993. The day before the agreement was signed, UNOSOM II took over the responsibilities of UNITAF, and UNITAF was dissolved on 4 March 1993.